All living beings possess a life magnetic field. The life magnetic field is the external manifestation of vitality. The stronger the life form, the more powerful its magnetic field fluctuations, and vice versa. These crystalline life forms were extremely weak, their magnetic fields negligible. Feng Lin had to refine his mental power to the finest degree just to barely detect them. Every crystal was a life form—could this ancient divine medicine actually be a colony of living beings? Unbelievable. Even though Feng Lin was usually composed, he was now stunned into silence. Life alchemy? A miraculous skill! Though these crystals were minuscule, invisible to the naked eye, creating life was the domain of the legendary Creator. Feng Lin’s awe was written all over his face, impossible to conceal.
Behind the surveillance projection, Frank’s expression shifted as he noticed Feng Lin’s anomaly. His voice deepened. “What did he find?” “I don’t know. Maybe he just stumbled on something he doesn’t understand. After all, this is a solid medicine—anyone would be a bit surprised,” Aiko said casually. But Frank shook his head. “It can’t be that simple. Feng Lin may be young, but he’s seasoned in temperament. If it were mere surprise, he wouldn’t lose his composure like this. He must have made a major discovery.” “Is that so?” Aiko paused. He knew Frank, as head of R&D, had an exceptionally sharp eye and rarely misjudged. Could this kid really have found something? Aiko stared at Feng Lin’s figure in the arena, his gaze shifting from its earlier warmth back to coldness.
But at that moment, Feng Lin was dissatisfied with his own findings. He realized his mental power was insufficient—its precision too low to uncover more truths. No wonder Giant Pharmaceuticals hadn’t discovered that mental power could probe the ancient divine medicine. These crystal structures were far too tiny. Unless mental power was strengthened to a certain level, it couldn’t even match an instrument’s scan. Mental genes were extremely rare and obscure, seldom awakened. Even if awakened, they were hard to strengthen to high points. Given Giant Pharmaceuticals’ vast influence, finding someone with extraordinary mental talent was no easy feat. That’s why no one had noticed this, leaving it for Feng Lin. But even with his mental gene strengthened to 4 points, it still wasn’t enough.
Looking at his 618% gene potential points, he began to ponder. Originally, he planned to save enough gene potential to exchange for a free primal gene point to strengthen the Stone Monkey gene. But plans changed. To uncover the secrets of this ancient divine medicine, he needed finer mental detection power, which meant strengthening the mental gene. Feng Lin didn’t hesitate. He decisively allocated points. The mental gene’s strength silently rose from 4 to 5, gene potential dropping to 518%. Strengthening a basic gene increased his vitality by 0.8, reaching 19.7. But that wasn’t the key. Feng Lin had no mind to focus on that. As the mental gene increased, his mental power surged again. The world before his eyes transformed once more. Mental perception felt like a microscope with higher magnification. The crystals in the medicine enlarged before him, now the size of fists. Looking closer, Feng Lin discovered each crystal had two layers: an inner circular structure and an outer crystalline shell, like skin or armor, protecting the inside. The crystals were constantly writhing, like microorganisms. They were truly alive! His earlier guess was correct. These crystals were real organisms. Why did he say that? Because after careful observation, he found their movements weren’t random but exhibited biological irritability. Within the ancient divine medicine, the crystals moved continuously but never collided, deliberately avoiding each other. Their faint yet distinct life magnetic fields couldn’t be faked.
A strange idea suddenly arose in Feng Lin’s mind. His formless mental power condensed into a needle and lightly touched the crystal shell. *Screech!* The crystal life form instantly reacted, its body swelling abruptly. The crystal edges elongated and stood upright like sharp spikes, resembling a porcupine bristling. The crystal creature’s life magnetic field fluctuated violently, radiating intense anger like waves spreading outward. Feng Lin felt as if he’d poked a hornet’s nest. Receiving this anger from its kin, other crystal creatures stirred, their spikes just beginning to rise. A torrent of chaotic thoughts reflected back. Initially, Feng Lin paid little attention, but these crystal lives, sharing the same origin, gradually united their thoughts and counterattacked. In an instant, Feng Lin felt his soul stabbed by a sharp sword, excruciating pain. “Ah…” Caught off guard, Feng Lin cried out.
“What happened?” Seeing the anomaly on screen, Frank and Aiko were startled, their eyes fixed on the scene. The moment he cried out, Feng Lin knew he’d messed up. Though he quickly recovered, it was too late. His anomaly had likely been noticed by Frank and Aiko. He’d need to come up with an explanation. But for now, the priority was understanding the ancient divine medicine. Since he’d already shown a flaw, Feng Lin stopped hiding. He closed his eyes tightly.
“What is he doing?” Frank and Aiko exchanged glances, their expressions puzzled and their gazes deepening. Recalling the earlier encounter, Feng Lin grew more intrigued. These crystal lives could counterattack—interesting! If they had consciousness, did they have memories? Perhaps he could hypnotize them and extract information about the ancient divine medicine from them. Feng Lin’s mind raced. Though it sounded incredible at first, it wasn’t impossible. After all, this ancient divine medicine was so miraculous, seemingly alive. Conventional methods were useless. To understand its properties, he had to take a different path.
Feng Lin acted on his idea, beginning to sense the life magnetic fields of these crystals. But unexpectedly, it was incredibly difficult. Because these crystal lives were so tiny, their magnetic field changes were extremely faint. Feng Lin struggled to perceive the fluctuations. He needed finer perception, demanding even higher mental power. The mental gene had to be strengthened further. Feng Lin didn’t hesitate. Gene potential dropped another 100%, the mental gene rising from 5 to 6, vitality reaching 20.5, officially breaking 20. He keenly noticed his mental perception had grown finer. The crystal creatures’ images enlarged again, from fists to soccer balls, their life magnetic field fluctuations becoming clearer. But it still wasn’t enough! He had to keep adding points. Feng Lin couldn’t stop. The mental gene went from 6 to 7, vitality reaching 21.3. The crystals’ life magnetic fields finally became clear, carrying emotional fluctuations—pure, with few complex feelings. Feng Lin was delighted. He could proceed. These crystal lives were as weak as insects, their thoughts likely simple, maybe easy to hypnotize. But when he actually tried, he found it wasn’t as simple as imagined. Though their emotions were simple, after countless years, their lives were robust, their thoughts incredibly resilient. Hypnotizing them consumed far more mental power than expected. After hypnotizing a small patch, he couldn’t sustain it.
As his mental probed into the crystal creatures’ bodies, linking with their life consciousness, faint information began to flow out, presenting fragmented images and sounds. But these memories were incomplete, shrouded in mist, unclear—far from enough. Since he’d already allocated points, Feng Lin decided to go all the way. He maxed out the mental gene to 9 points, vitality reaching 22.9. Since becoming an interstellar cultivator, his vitality had skyrocketed, and Feng Lin had grown numb to it. Gene potential had dwindled to 118%, consumed rapidly. Feng Lin paid it no mind. With the mental gene surging, his mental power soared. He finally hypnotized all the crystal lives. The next moment, countless memories surged from them, plunging him into an illusion.
Before Feng Lin’s eyes unfolded an ancient, mysterious tableau. The sound of golden bells and giant chimes echoed in his ears, spanning the river of ten thousand years. A wave of ancient, weathered aura rushed in like a tide. “Heaven and earth as the furnace, creation as the craftsman. Yin and yang as the charcoal, all things as the copper…”